Remember to support local this holiday season

It's quite the informational resource especially with the holidays right around the corner.

I remember more than a decade ago when it was time to get my Christmas list together. Hot wheels, remote control cars, dinky cars, a new Nintendo 64 video game were common items on my list.

Nowadays, it means a lot more to me to just be able to spend my Christmas with family and laugh and share stories, and celebrate our good health.

There are some in our community who won't be as fortunate this holiday season. I encourage you to support local organizations this month whether it be at community suppers, toy drives, kettle campaigns or Christmas community events.

It's just as important to shop local this season. There are so many fantastic businesses in our community. I encourage you all to support these businesses who, in turn, support our community all year long.

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This week you may have seen the national Postmedia-wide in depth series on Distracted Driving in the DHT.

Though I've written about this issue in recent weeks, I think it's still very important that, as a society, we continue to talk about it and educate.

As reported earlier this week, "Distracted driving is believed to be among the leading factors in fatal collisions in every province and territory in Canada".

Distracted drivers are three times more likely to be in a crash than attentive drivers, according to Alberta Transportation in 2011. Furthermore, according to CAA, driver distraction is a factor in about 4 million motor vehicle crashes in North America each year.

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I agree that the Eastlink Centre should consider reviewing its membership prices.

Our reporter Svjetlana Mlinarevic did a story on Nov. 24, which shared that the facility is looking at dropping and modifying its membership pricing with the hope of more people signing up.

In an effort to make it more affordable, the facility lowered the price of the running track per person from the full facility drop-in fee of $11.75 to $2 on Dec. 1.

I'd like to see more price reductions like that at the Eastlink Centre.

What makes it most challenging is how to ensure patrons don't try and take advantage of using other parts of the facility. It's such a large facility and there's a lot of ground to try and police.

It's encouraging to see, none the less. Lowering the price is a good, first step in addressing facility-use affordability.

Just as a reminder, on Dec. 3, the Eastlink Centre will be selling six-month and one-year memberships at a 25% reduced rate during the centre's five year anniversary.